bush ratchets up the rhetoric in the u.k.-hostages-in-iran situation. because *that* will improve things. who took the duct tape off his mouth?

up until now, i had lazily assumed that this scene would play out much along along the lines of the u.s.-hostages-in-china situation a few years back. lots of staunch posturing and a heated war of “he-said/she-said”, but sensible heads eventually prevailing. i’m quickly realising that there are, however, two big differences between that crisis and this one: a) the u.s. had a huge economic incentive to use diplomacy b) neither country really wanted to fight the other (the u.s. with a healthy fear of china’s military might, and china being thoroughly disinterested in swatting at the u.s.)

unfortunately, neither of those constraints are applicable to today’s showdown.

still, if the handling of this impasse had remained squarely in the hands of the u.k., i would have still had relatively strong hopes for a peaceful outcome. but bush just can’t keep his nose out of the u.k.’s business, and it’s become very clear just who will be leading this parade (sorry for the horrible clash of metaphors.) he’s just itching for an excuse to fight, and iran is taunting him – all the while blair under ever increasing pressure to *do something*.

i have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

but before we start blowing things to kingdom come, here’s some food for thought.

let’s hope we’ve learned something from our recent mistakes.

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